Live a Little
by Hanna.bananna
Summary: Death is inevitable. Especially when your best friends are a death wish. My name is Clarissa and this is the story of how the Lightwoods taught me to live a little. All human.
1. Intro 1

Live A Little

Introduction

Most people fear the unknown; particularly death.

And try to prevent it.

I, technically, don't have a choice, thanks to four words: Jonathon, Alexander, and Isabelle. These three people are stubborn, reckless, and most people would call them stupid, incredibly stupid.

Meet my best (and only) real friends. Also known as a death wish.

My name is Clarissa, and I have a different perspective on life: be liked, excel in everything, (whether it's sports, clubs, school, etc.), always be in everyone's good books, occasionally be envied, things like that.

Most people think I'm a 'goody-goody', but I don't see it. Oh, and I forgot one thing earlier: NEVER get in trouble, EVER. It could determine the outcome of my life, therefore I have had a squeaky clean record (including attendance) my entire life. My friends are the kind of people that have adventurous lives, and have never gotten into trouble for it. How, I don't know. All I know is that I'd get caught immediately. Nevertheless, they try to get me to go exciting places to do exciting things, but I always make a good excuse not to. They say they are trying to break me out of "my shell" which they claim is "a phase that just lasted eighteen years,"...Which was my entire life...That hurts...

But what they didn't know was that when I was five years old, I ran away from home because of whatever reason a five year old would have to run away. I lasted about twenty minutes before realizing what my parents were probably thinking and instantly felt guilty. It wasn't like it was their fault that my ten year old neighbor stole my ice cream and yanked my braids down causing me to fall and ruin my favorite dress by getting a grass stain. I honestly don't even know why he wanted my ice cream (it _was_ pistachio, after all; I had terrible taste in ice cream back then). I was so mad, I ripped the heads off of every one of my dolls. My DOLLS! EVEN THE _COLLECTORS_ EDITION ONES! CALVIN, I WISH YOU BURN IN THE FIERY PITS OF- calm down, Clarissa; happy thoughts... _happy thoughts_...like pistachio ice cream. God danget.

...I think it is safe to say I was an emotional child...

Anyways, I ran home, about to cry from my mistake of leaving, and as soon as I saw them -my parents- I immediately started babbling about how sorry I was, and how I would never do anything bad ever again.

Many people would probably say 'don't make promises you can't keep', but call me Honest Abe, because I have stuck to that promise so far.

But the worst part of this whole 'running away' incident was the look in my parents' eyes as soon as soon as I opened the front door. There was obviously relief considering that their missing five year old daughter just returned. But hidden behind the relief was a hint of something else. Disappointment: every child's weakness. (Has there ever been a kid in the history of the Universe who stayed strong against the Disappointment Card?) Whether it was directed at me for being such a foolish baby who ran away for foolish reasons, or at themselves, thinking they did something wrong with their only child. Of course the only thing they did wrong was move in next to a ten year old jerk face. And I told them just that. Too bad I have always lived next to Calvin, so our parents were practically best friends, and we were told "be nice and play fair". No yelling parents. No mad parents. No trouble giving parents. To top it off with a cherry, they never stopped smiling since I'd explained what happened. Ever.

I honestly didn't even think I was capable of hating someone, but Calvin changed my mind. Completely. Don't ever mess with a five year old girl's ice cream, hair, and dress on the same day and expect to be all Buddy-Buddy. With my five year old mind, I thought he would grow up to be a villain of some sort. I was wrong.

It's hard to believe that he's in his twenties and isn't still living with his Mommy and Daddy Dearest, like I'd expect him to. He is actually a doctor. That's the reason I go to the _second_ closest doctor's office.

* * *

I'm now a senior in High school (and yes, I still hate Calvin for what he did to me all those years ago. Yup, Queen Of Grudges, and happily reigning, but hey, first impressions are everything, right?) Earlier when I mentioned how my triplet 'besties' where adventurous, I wasn't lying. Just yesterday, they let a four or five year old have anything in the Gameroom claw machine. On one condition: they crawl in.

Of course I had no part in this.

As soon as the claw machine was empty, and its contents on its way home with an extremely happy little boy, two of the three devils discreetly took the now light and empty box to our man (and woman) cave, bought stuffed animals, and had a fun new toy. And yes, we _are_ old enough to vote.

Of course they don't usually steal, but on those rare occasions, they don't steal important or high valued objects. But either way it was wrong. Definitely and completely wrong.

Though, they do pull an anonymous prank every Saturday-probably because they were born on a Saturday and believe that that day was a gift from God. (Did I mention that they _very_ are arrogant?) They always come up with the pranks and who to release their mighty wrath upon.

Although they think of the pranks and execute them themselves (since I have no intent on getting caught and going to jail), I'm the smart one of the group, so I'm the strategist. Obviously the only reason I'm involved is so my sibling like friends don't do something stupid, like take a wrong turn, and get caught, duh, I'm not trying to suddenly rebel, pssh.

Most pranks go like this: Strategist: Me, Distraction: Isabelle, Warriors: Isabelle/Jonathon, Getaway driver(because we always need one):Alexander.

Alexander argues that if he doesn't drive, then no one will, but we all know he is just the lesser of the three evils.

My name is Clarissa and this is the story of how the Lightwoods taught me to live a little.

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Thanks,

I appreciate the reviews.


	2. Intro 2

**Sorry for the incredibly long wait, school can really suck. And being sick for a few weeks...OK...This isn't a romance story; I might include something later, though. Not certain, yet, so let me know. Thanks for the reviews.**

* * *

My two brothers are absolute idiots.

They just jeopardized our entire prank, and ruined the rest for the next few weeks.

Those two...Those... Those little...

...Ducks...

Pardon my language, but that is just how mad I am.

They are so inconsiderate to everyone around them.

They just _had_ to brag to two girls about how brave they were and jump off the roof, and break a few bones in the process.

They just _had_ to miss the pool.

Those ducks.

Of course, the only difference between them and ducks is the fact that DUCKS. ACTUALLY. CAN. FLY.

Of course they are fine, but as soon as they regain consciousness, I'll kill Them.

Enjoy the next five seconds of light you see...

Of course, I'm not really _that_ evil, I'm actually half human and half Angel. Wink. Wink.

...Pssh, as if. But that _would_ explain my striking appearance...Smirk. Smirk.

Moving on. Everyone but my family and close friend, Clarissa, wonders why I don't open up around anyone. I was a new student and she was my only real friend at the time of the accident, so since she was the only non-Lightwood I trusted, she was and will always be the only non-family that will ever know what really happened that day...

 **-flashback-**

 **two years ago**

 **(2014)**

 **It was a month after we moved back into town. I say back because we had previously lived here, four years ago. Clarissa was my neighbor when we lived here back then, so we were good friends, already. (Plus, we both agreed that Calvin guy that she lived next to was the worst.) We had kept in touch and became even closer than when we were twelve.**

 **We had just turned sixteen when we moved, and were about to have a welcome back/ sweet sixteen party, and we went all out. We invited all of our old friends (including Clarissa). We had a lot of friends. A. LOT. OF. FRIENDS. Long story short, the party got out of hand. Over half the people couldn't stand due to their non-recommended amount of alcohol consumption _._ The others were also drunk (but thankfully Clarissa wasn't), and never say a party's over to completely wasted people who were having fun, and not expect them to be mad, very mad. **

**Other than Clarissa, I had terrible choice in friends.**

 **Then it happened. The start of what I thought to be the end of my life.**

 ** _Max_. **

**I had told him to stay in his room, for this reason. A teenage party plus a tired nine year old boy did _not_ go well together, ever. **

**He was the perfect little brother: hair that always stuck up no matter what fifty dollar product you tried to use to tame it; always smiling that lop-sided grin of his; huge glasses that never stayed on; but not to mention the fact that he always had his head in a book. Comics to dictionaries, _dictionaries_ , for heaven's sake! He was nine years old! I didn't even learn to read until I was like... I don't even know, but he was an impressive child. **

**Some guy that was about two years older than me- Jonathon or Sebastian, I think- who had black hair, but his eyebrows said otherwise; that he had white hair, walked (more like stumbled) up to me, but Max tripped on his untied shoelaces, fell in front of Jonathan/ Sebastian, and being as drunk as he was, he didn't notice poor little Max on the floor, and kicked his head when he was walking. I thought as hard as Max was crying, that he had a serious injury, so I ran to him.**

 **It turns out his glasses had broken and was crying and mumbling things like "everything is blurry," or "I can't see anything a foot away". I then sent him to his room since I knew he was exaggerating, and could easily see well enough to get back.**

 **Ten minutes later, when all of the conscious people were gone and the _un_ conscious people were on a beanbag, sleeping bag, or couch of some sort, I went to go check on Max, and to make sure he was in bed, but not reading, like always was. **

**I froze.**

 **What I saw when I walked in to his Lego-and-book-filled-room got many reactions from me. The need to throw up. Shock. Regret. Sadness, and many, many more. I was in such a state of shock, that I barley registered my brothers rushing around me asking me what was wrong, before they saw him.**

 **A hurricane would be the best metaphor for it. The party was the beginning of the storm, hectic, unexpected, and unpredictable. Now? Now was the eye of the storm. Everything just stopped. Seemed so at peace, and so tranquil.**

 **Then reality slapped you in the face.**

 **My vision, hearing, and feeling returned, because before, _everything_ was blurry. It turns out, my brothers have been hugging me for the last five minutes, and trying to get me to wake up from my trance, saying that they will call an ambulance, and that he will be fine. **

**He wasn't.**

 **He had hit his head on one of those yellow Lego blocks. Red met yellow; a stark contrast.**

* * *

 **The ride in the ambulance was slow and agonizing, yet it went by so fast, I wouldn't be able to tell anyone what had happened later. After the doctors left the neutral-colored room in which my baby brother was taken earlier, a male doctor with colorful and glittery spiky hair walked up to me. He was wearing bright green skinny jeans and a sequined rainbow top under his doctor/lab coat thing. Everything was glittery, even this guy's skin! How he survived med school will forever be a mystery.**

 **His expression held all of the emotions his attire didn't. According to his name tag, his name was Dr. M. A. Bane. Dr. Bane's expressions seemed to be contradicting themselves; his face was sad, depressed, and pitying, but relieved at the same time. He called out Max's full name, and me, my triplets, and Clarissa stood up. My parents were away in some foreign country, apparently discussing matters _far_ more important than their own child, considering that they left the day we were settled in. **

**Dr. Bane led us into the room, without a word, and there he was, so calm and content. "He is a tough boy; he is currently on a coma. I have to warn you though, at the very least, he will have major brain issues," Dr. Bane explained softly. At that, I started weeping quietly. "And the worst?!" This made me jump, because Alexander never spoke above a whisper, let alone yell. "All we can do is wait." The glittery doctor said. He didn't answer Alexander, and that was answer enough.**

-End flashback-

So here I am after visiting my injured fellow triplets. I have hated hospitals since that day.

As I approach the chunk of cement that I have thought of punching since I first saw it, a silent tear falls down my face. It was all my fault. I should have gone with him. Since that day, Isabelle Lightwood has never been the same and I don't think she will ever be again. Not without _him_ in her life.

The cement seemed to cry back at me.

 _Max Lightwood:_

 _Beloved brother, son, and friend._

 _2005-2014. He will forever be missed._

I took another drink of whatever alcohol I had. Although my body and mind now feels slightly numb, it will never fill the emptiness inside of me that was created two years ago. Exactly two years ago. "Happy Anniversary, Maxy."

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Review...


	3. Intro 3

**Sorry this story hasn't been updated lately. I've been very busy, and my laptop had a hidden virus and took a billion and two years to load anything, and** _ **every**_ **page on the internet was "untrusted". Again, I sincerely apologize to those of you who liked my story and were hoping for a quicker update.**

* * *

"Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God," Jonathon kept mumbling these three words and he wouldn't shut up. It had been about two hours now, and I was literally dying from the inside out. "You've said 'God' more times in the past few hours than a priest has in his entire elderly life, Jonathon," I said loud enough for him to hear me on the neighboring hospital bed, but not loud enough for the nurse a few yards away from us to hear.

He then glared at me, and continued his priest training.

I'd never commit another crime if he'd begin an oath if silence, I swear.

"Seriously, though you're being more dramatic than an LMN movie and Oprah combined." I continue to try to get him on board with this 'silence' thing, by trying to bribe him with not losing his pride by getting compared to middle-aged women on cheesy television, but he continues saying those three words that can get _so_ old _so, so_ fast.

If he isn't quiet in ten minutes, give me him, a pillow, a latex glove, and no suspects. (I was _totally_ joking…)

"Jonathon, there are currently many things that could make you be say what you are saying, so what are they?"

This time he was quiet.

The mood in the room had drastically changed from annoyance and playful mocking, to serious and gloomy.

"Jonathon, you can trust me, your my brother; we're family. Please tell me what's wrong, man."

"Today is literally one of the worst days of my life; there are so many things wrong, that I can't even count that high, Alexander," he lowly started to tell me once everyone was gone from the room they were currently in. His amber eyes glazed over, as if remembering a distant memory, which I knew he was.

"Who knows where Isabelle is, doing who knows what, and we aren't there to help her, protect her, be with her, _supervise_ her; it's _…his…anniversary;_ AND THESE FREAKIN PAIN KILLERS ARE WEARING OFF!" He had yelled his entire sentence, but screamed the last part so the nurse would hear him in the other room, and give him the medicine to calm him down, and sure enough, she did. She came in and gave Jonathan three very large and colorful pills that I'm positive I would have choked on because of the size, and swallowed them almost instantly.

By the time the nurse finished her dumb and pointless little checkup on me and my brother, he was already asleep from the medicine, and I was left alone as the only conscious mind in the room. This might sound like the cheesiest thing in the world, but I was actually left in the dim room to contemplate life. _My life._

Life is a funny thing; it is the best thing that will ever happen to you, but the creators of this supposed _only_ life left many of its inhabitants broken. Max had always believed that whoever created everything should be called the Creators, while whoever takes anything from everything should be known as the Takers. After that strange discussion with him about three years ago, I had always seen life like that. Although, since he died I saw a morbid and twisted version of what he thought. He believed that the Creators make things, and the Takers thought that taking away life from the Creators was what was best for humanity. I agreed, until that night. Now, when I think of life, I think that the Creators just made us so that their best friend, the Takers can mercilessly rip almost every ounce of happiness we have away from us and say it was an accident, for amusement. They could laugh as our souls are being torn out, and replaced with ice. Some people, I think, are lucky enough to forget; ignorance is bliss, and all.

A silent tear fell down my face. _Well this is reality, too bad, so sad._

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 **It's short, I know. Sorry. I appreciate any constructive criticisms :)  
**


	4. Bungie Jumping?

*Two days later*

Today is the day Jonathon and Alexander get out of the hospital.

Once Clarissa forcefully pulled me out of my *ahem* slump two days ago, I've been thinking. I soon realized that if anything, the Max incident taught me that you only live once.

And when was the last time my siblings, Clarissa, and I had some _real_ fun?

Yes, we cause mischief that certainly entertains us, but does it qualify as _fun_?

Once Clarissa had calmed me down, we have been having a girls-sleepover-and-stay-at-my-house-for-two-days thing going on.

"Hmm… WE COULD GO BUNGIE JUMPING."

We have also been brainstorming how to have some fun, with our spring break coming up in a week or so.

"NO."

Clarissa was just in a state of denial. I need to change that.

"What about a road trip?"

"Maybe,"

I started to get excited; this was it!

"If there is no hitchhiking involved, of course."

"Never mind," I said kind of bummed. She just rolled her eyes. "Hey, when are your parents coming back?" Clarissa asked.

"…Don't know, don't care."

I've pretty much given up on the prospect of them coming home within the next couple of months after what they did.

Clarissa frowned. "Look I know they aren't as close with their children as they should be, but they _are_ still your parents."

"They flew in like three days before our birthday, were at work like 97 percent of the time, and left the day before Max's—"

"Okay, okay I get it."

"Look. I've officially come to the conclusion that they just don't care, alright? Let's just stop talking about this."

There was a slightly awkward pause before I caught a glimpse of Clarissa smiling softly.

"You got a big car for your birthday, right?"

"Yeah," I said, slightly confused.

"So… road trip?"

My now excited, high pitched squeals fills the room.

* * *

Jonathon and Alexander burst through the doorway laughing their asses off. Guess I'm not the only one that only one that feels bad on that one day.

"What's so funny?" Clarissa asks.

Jonathon looks like a deer in headlights as he looks at her before he doubles over, laughing again. "You don't wanna know."

 _Duck_

I've gotta get straight to the point.

"We're all going on a road trip this spring break."

"What." The boys say in unison.

"Think about it. We're seniors. High school's about to end for us. There. I said what we've all been afraid to say. High school is about to end and we are all going to different colleges, and it might be years before we are all together again."

Now sober from his laughter, Jonathon says in a small voice, "You know that isn't true, Isabelle."

"Yes I do, and so do all of you."

"I'm in." Alexander says, so quiet, he has to repeat himself. "I'm in. She's right. About everything. If we do this, this could probably be one of our last adventures. Ever. We should make our last memories of high school memorable."

Everyone seems to take it all in for a minute or two.

"Well if he's in, I'm in." Jonathon says.

Then Clarissa speaks up. "As long as there are no felonies involved, I'm already in, so…"


End file.
